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by DuchessofSomerset
Summary: Following her kiss with Robin Hood Regina pays a visit to her sister with the intention of regaining her heart. Things don't go to plan but as a result she begins to see a way to combat Zelena that pushes Regina straight back into the moral grey land she wishes to avoid. AU from the end of 3.18. Swan Queen endgame with Wicked Queen and others!


A/N: Slow burn, multi-pairings, there will be smut in later chapters! Also, this is pretty much just the ladies and I don't really _do_ het pairings so please don't expect any OQ or CS. Any mention of these relationships is, I can assure you, a means towards the boys just fading away into the background. Also, this is my first attempt at this fandom so please be kind :)

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Regina left the paddock where Robin and his merry men lived in their makeshift camp feeling as conflicted as she had when she'd arrived.

The kiss hadn't been horrible, it had in fact been quite enjoyable – or at least she knew it _should_ have been – but despite the best efforts of the thief and his not untalented lips Regina still felt hollow. She had been sure that Snow White was right, although the irony of her former step-daughter, the catalyst for the loss of her first love trying to help her towards a second one was not lost on her, but it seemed the younger woman was somewhat short of the mark yet again. Robin Hood was a perfectly decent man and Regina had been surprised to find somebody she could trust with her heart, however temporarily. It had certainly been a blow to learn he had lost it, but all the anger she would have felt once seemed to evaporate in the face of his apologetic gaze; it had been partially her calmness then that had led her to believe that he might well be a man worth knowing.

It struck her as she walked through the woods that perhaps _he_ wasn't the problem. It wasn't her _fault_ if she didn't feel anything with Robin, whether it was lust or anger she was aiming for; she wasn't entirely hollow as her mother had been but the organ was a temperamental one and though she hadn't expected the lack of her heart to make her as cold as Cora Mills had been it was clear something was affecting her.

Regina stopped in her walk, knowing she was far enough away from the camp that she wouldn't startle anybody if she disappeared in a puff of smoke, and with a sigh resigned herself to heading back to the mansion alone. Or worse, with Snow still there eager to ask questions. Neither thought was appealing. She could go somewhere else of course – lately she had been quite welcome at the Charming's apartment, but that still threw up the possibility of Snow wanting to _talk_ about her night. There was always Granny's but then she would be faced with the off-putting vision of the Saviour's interminable flirting with Hook and she would be forced to acknowledge the possibility that Emma Swan, of all people, was having better luck with a pirate than she was with a reformed thief.

It was times like this she longed for the simplicity of Katherine's friendship, or the familiarity of Maleficent to soothe her, although neither woman was likely to speak to her.

Regina rolled her eyes at herself for once when she realised how long she had been lingering. She would be the first to warn the others about wondering off alone in the middle of the night when Zelena could be anywhere at any time and here she was doing it without a thought for her own wellbeing. She raised her hand to send herself to the safety of her home but hesitated again. She had set out tonight to prove to herself that she could love again, that she could at least _feel_ again, and the only explanation she could think for the failure was the lack of her heart. She needed it back, needed to know if Robin really _could_ make her feel properly, or if it really was just her. And there was only one place she could go to find the answer.

Before she changed her mind Regina straightened her back and when the purple smoke cleared she was in front of the farmhouse.

She stood still for a moment, waiting, half-expecting there to be a defence mechanism set up should somebody try and reach the house, but nothing came. Either Zelena was so arrogant she didn't expect anybody to challenge her, or else the witch relied upon people's fear of the Dark One. Or both, Regina conceded. Cautiously she trod over the hard ground in her boots, flexing her fingers in readiness and trying to ignore the little voice that sounded like Emma telling her she was being foolish. There was a single light on inside the building and she peered through the window from the shadows, catching sight of her sister almost immediately.

Regina knew logically that she of all people should know that wicked witches were not, as a rule, _constantly_ up to no good. Everybody needed time to bathe or eat or sleep and sometimes, when nobody was around, just do normal things like reading a book – even back in the Enchanted Forest when she'd been waging war against Snow White she had taken the time to groom her horses for the sake of it, or visit Maleficent to enjoy a glass of cider from the only other person she knew who brewed anything half decent. So to find Zelena _not_ sharpening the Dark One's dagger or visibly plotting her next move was surprising, but it was downright _shocking_ to see her blubbing at the table.

Regina furrowed her brow.

Snow White cried. Belle cried. Ariel had probably cried even if the tears had immediately been washed away. Her _victims _cried. Her wicked, murderous nemesis did _not_ cry. In the moment it took her to recover from the surprise her presence was apparently sensed so any thought of turning back evaporated when the furious redhead left her seat and wrenched open the door to the porch Regina stood on and looked at her with wild eyes.

"What do _you_ want?!"

Regina recovered immediately and smiled sweetly. If nothing else she was determined to take the opportunity to catch the other woman at a disadvantage for once.

"Well after you paid me a visit I thought I'd return the favour." She strolled casually past Zelena into the kitchen and glanced around, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "I still maintain that my life isn't all it's cracked up to be, but I will admit, my _house_ is certainly better than this shack."

"Oh, and here I thought you liked roughing it," Zelena's smiled thinly, closing the door with a slam that rattled the glass panes, trying to regain the upper hand and, Regina had to admit, doing an admirable job for a woman she had seen crying barely a minute ago. "Or is it just the woods you tend towards?"

"Speaking of which," Regina raised her hand, a fireball appearing immediately. "Hand it over."

Zelena rolled her eyes and gestured impatiently towards Regina, immediately extinguishing the fire and looking vaguely disgusted that there wasn't a bigger challenge to combat. Regina conjured it back but Zelena had already lost interest in the potential attack and extracted a bottle of whiskey from the same shelf Robin had what felt like a life time ago.

"Do you partake _sis_?"

"You honestly think I'm going to _drink_ anything you give me?"

"Suit yourself dearie."

Sniffing heavily Zelena poured herself out a large measure, glancing over her shoulder as she did, watching Regina's fireball with more vigilance than she let on. She crossed the room under Regina's glare and left the kitchen for the bedroom, leaving the door open for her sister to follow. When she did Zelena smirked and sat down on the bed, settling herself against the headboard and stretching her legs out, nursing her drink casually.

"Did you honestly think you could come here and I'd hand over my prize _just like that_?"

"Well, I thought we could compromise," Regina took steps towards the bottom of the bed and wrapped her fingers carefully around the metal post, leaning forwards to level her gaze upon the reclining woman. "You can hand it over now and when we defeat you I'll talk the Saviour into letting you die quickly."

Much to Regina's chagrin the threat was met with light, mocking laughter.

"Oh yes," Zelena sipped her drink with a smile still on her lips. "I bet you could talk your Miss Swan in all sorts of things these days."

Regina gritted her teeth as she squeezed the bedframe, imagining wringing the damned woman's neck to contain herself from doing just that. She broke the gaze between them, refusing to concede defeat but needing a moment to regain herself… how Zelena knew about the growing friendship between her and Emma she wasn't sure, but it certainly wasn't something she _liked _the redhead being able to hold over her. She settled her eyes anywhere else in the room instead and frowned in confusion when she saw the candles that littered the room.

In and of themselves they weren't extraordinary, but taken with the dress Zelena was wearing that Regina's eyes shot back to now, and the table in the kitchen that still contained two wine glasses – one untouched – and it didn't take Regina long to reach a conclusion.

"Did you have a_ date_ here tonight?" She asked incredulously.

If Regina had been less thrown by the possibility of the wicked witch spending her spare time attempting romantic overtures with somebody she might have noticed the flicker of hurt and sorrow that passed through her sister's eyes, but as it was she was too busy glancing around the room as though the mystery man was going to tumble out of the wardrobe at any minute.

"It's none of your business," Zelena's tone turned hard and she knocked back her drink in one and reached out her hand expectantly for the bottle in the next room to fly into it. Glass narrowly missed Regina's head but the former queen didn't flinch as she watched her sister pour out another drink, forcing a nasty smile onto her lips. "At least my heart is my _own_ to give. Yours too if I felt like it… I could give it to _anybody_ and I bet there are a few in this town that would line up to be the mistress of the Evil Queen."

"Nobody controls my heart."

"Don't need to," Zelena drank deeply and sighed, finally satisfied that she was feeling a burn in her throat. "Controlling you was never the point of any of this." The redhead tilted her head towards Regina and smiled, wrinkling her nose in way that Regina recognised as something they shared. "So go and kiss your thief and be adored by somebody. Call it a last favour between sisters."

"He's not _my_ thief," Regina said petulantly.

"Not yet maybe. Although I can't say I see it myself, a royal princess and a lowly thief."

Regina opened her mouth to defend Robin against the critique, but she didn't have the strength to argue the point and instead glowered.

"I'm surprised you're not with him now, with the end being nigh," Zelena continued. "Or has he let you down already? Poor Regina, alone again."

"I'm not the one crying into my whiskey like…" Regina's smile turned nastily thoughtful. "Like our grandfather actually. Mother never spoke about him but Gold told me he was a drunkard that she so ashamed of she cut him out of her life completely. I wonder if she gave you away because she sensed you'd be like him?"

The flash of fury in Zelena's face made Regina's heart race with excitement and she unclenched one hand from the bedframe in preparation for the attack she anticipated. Zelena's whole body seemed to shake in the face of Regina's smile until the glass in her hand shattered in a spray of whiskey, glass and blood.

"_You don't know a thing about me_," she hissed.

Regina shrugged her shoulders and leant forward goadingly. "And I care about as much as mother did."

Zelena shot back to her feet and Regina conjured a fireball instinctively but instead of the magical assault she had expected she found herself with long fingers around her neck, being pressed into the corner of the wardrobe. She had never been one for physical fights but Regina knew immediately that she was outmatched; she could hold her own against the older woman with magic but Zelena was taller, stronger and madder, which Regina knew from experience usually fuelled people to greater heights of strength. The sharp impact of the wardrobe edge against her spine made her hand spasm and she felt the magic in her hand fall away as her arm tingled horribly.

"I'd kill you now if I didn't enjoy watching you and your _family_ bumbling around quite so much," Zelena spat at her, the tell-tale scent of whiskey mixing with the perfume she could smell on her sister's skin. "Go back and enjoy them Regina."

Zelena leaned in close, the length of her body pinning Regina's tightly and the former queen shuddered at the close contact. Zelena's lips were close to her ear and her fingers still at her throat, gripping it tightly and leaving Regina struggling for air; Zelena was too strong for her to break away from the grip, her longer body a tremendously useful tool and the queen swallowed heavily at the breath she could feel on her skin.

"Especially _Miss Swan_."

Regina summoned her magic in a rush of fury and pushed back against Zelena, sending the other woman into the wall of her own bedroom but the redhead was soon striding back with a laugh, waving her hand to immobilise Regina as she had done in the street.

"Oooh, touched a nerve have I?" Zelena was close again and Regina lifted her chin defiantly as the other woman leant in. "I've been watching the wrong thief it seems."

"Stay away from _my _family!"

Zelena laughed and Regina struggled against the invisible binds, feeling almost as much disgust with herself for walking into this situation than she did with Zelena for taking advantage of it. She sneered in the wicked witch's direction but knew she was running out of time to make a move; based on what Belle had told them earlier she was reasonably assured that Zelena wouldn't kill her before she had made use of her heart, but that didn't mean there weren't worse things.

"I'm sure you'll learn to live without them Regina."

Zelena leaned in again, vicious laughter on her voice and Regina moved her head up as much as she could with her constraints. The other witch was close, her body pressed against Regina's as she dragged a hand over her throat, nails scraping flesh lightly before gripping the back of Regina's head to bring her face up; Regina pressed her lips tightly together to stop herself crying out at the sharp touch and met Zelena's gaze defiantly.

"For the few days I'll leave you suffering before I kill you as we-"

Regina waited until the other witch was so close they were practically breathing the same air before she took advantage of the element of surprise and presed her lips up against Zelena's. For a second she thought she might have signed her own death warrant, and she tried not to think about the greater implications of who they were to each other, but Regina clung to the desperate hope that _distracting_ Zelena with weapons she had used against plenty of men in the Enchanted Forest, might yield the same result.

The shock seemed to throw her adversary and the magic holding her fell away enough for Regina to move her limbs. She had to act quickly, Zelena wouldn't be distracted for long and with her lips still pressed against the other woman's Regina disappeared in her usual purple haze, appearing in the safety of her kitchen.

She reached out a hand to lean on the counter, breathing deeply and incredibly annoyed, not to mention quite disturbed, to discover that even with the organ itself absent her chest could still feel like it was thundering with the beating of her heart.


End file.
